Aloe Vera
by Zelha
Summary: Set between Walking Together shots. Married life in Sunagakure wasn't as easy as Sakura thought, especially under the merciless rays of the desert sun. Gaara, of course, has to be blamed for everything, according to her.


**Aloe Vera**

**Walking Together**** Extra: Sunburn**

**AN: **Follow up to theme 7.

-

"Shut up, Kankurou!" Sakura exclaimed at her brother-in-law but he didn't pay attention and kept laughing his ass off.

"You gotta admit, Sakura, that this was pretty dumb of you. I thought you were aware of how harmful the sun can be around here."

Of course she knew. She only forgot to put on the sunscreen because of a certain redheaded husband of hers being his usual overbearing self.

It had started as a sparring session. She had acquiesced to his request of training together because she felt a little rusty; she had been secluded in the hospital for so long. Sadly, she had completely forgotten to apply a good amount of sun-block cream, and she had suffered the consequences. Now she looked like a tomato with pink hair.

Ugh.

Not to mention how hot she felt. It was quite the smothering feeling, and not pleasant at all. She growled her pain at the pillow, not finding the strength to move from the bed. She was sprawled on the soft surface she shared nowadays with her husband, with nothing but a light sheet covering her.

"Leave her alone, Kankurou," Temari said as she walked to the door the Puppeteer was leaning on. "I'll get you a soothing lotion, Sakura, just don't move too much and get some rest. You know how many here have passed out due to heatstroke these days, so don't be so hard on yourself."

"Yeah, yeah," the Kazehime said with a disgruntled huff. It was a direct blow to her medical self, to be defeated by some nasty sunburn. She had to have known that this surely would happen, because Temari herself had suffered from this particular ailment, but she didn't know how sensitive her skin could be to the merciless UV rays. Now, the heat she was feeling deep within her body was making her eyes close, so she just allowed sleep to embrace her.

"She's out of commission," Temari said after checking once more on her sister-in-law. "This is your fault, Gaara. When she finds out you challenged her to a spar to get her out of the hospital you're going down."

"It is not my fault she overworks herself," he said in a defensive, gruff tone. "I merely want her to rest."

"By making her get a painful sunburn?"

"No."

Little did Temari know that he was also disgruntled by this unexpected turn of events. Now that Gaara and Sakura were in that stage of their marriage in which they enjoyed every second of their private moments, he was feeling quite bummed by this situation. He was positive that Sakura wouldn't want to be intimate if she was feeling bad thanks to her current condition.

Damn. And he had been looking forward to that ice cube trick she had told him about.

-X-

Sakura woke up feeling a lot cooler. There was a gentle hand on her red back, applying a good amount of a cold lotion. She hummed at the sensation.

"What's that, Temari?" she asked, still drowsy from her nap.

"Aloe Vera."

Sakura's eyes shot open when she heard the familiar deep voice. Craning her neck, she turned her head to see him. Indeed, there was Gaara, with his white robes slung over his shoulder, sitting next to her hip.

"I thought you were in a Council meeting," she said by way of greeting. He nodded.

"It was finished early. Baki arranged everything."

"Ah," Sakura understood. Truly, Baki was quite the efficient advisor. It was a pity that some of her comrades at home still harbored a grudge towards the Sand nin. Genma and Yuugao still hadn't got over the loss of their friend Hayate, and she couldn't blame them.

She sent a mental curse to Orochimaru for being a manipulative snake.

Silence settled easily between them. She knew Gaara wasn't a chatterbox, and she wasn't feeling that talkative either. She was content, enjoying her husband's gentle touch, soothing her burn with practiced swipes of his palm.

"It's cold," she stated the obvious, staring at his stoic face. He nodded slowly.

"Temari keeps this in the freezer to further increase its effects," he explained simply. Sakura smiled.

"It feels good," she whispered. "I should heal this, but it would take a lot of chakra to restore all the burnt cells...and I have a surgery scheduled for tomorrow."

"Pass the case to another medic," he said tonelessly. "You need to rest."

Sakura scowled. "I need to oversee this procedure anyway, it's a difficult case."

Gaara's jade eyes narrowed at his wife, who gazed back unflinchingly. They were so used to their stubbornness that only the clearing of a throat somewhere near the door broke their intense staring contest.

"I would tell you guys to get a room, but you're already in it," Kankurou said, making Temari snort. "Sakura, your surgery was rescheduled until you get better."

"And everything at the office is settled, so you can take the next two days off," Temari added, looking at her youngest brother. "We're going out, don't wait up for us."

Beating a hasty retreat, the Kaze couple found themselves alone. Sakura snorted softly, knowing when she had to concede defeat.

"They set us up, didn't they?" she asked with a sigh. "I'll have to bake them some cookies to thank them."

"I was the one to set you up," Gaara admitted tonelessly. "You've been overworking yourself too much."

"Look who's calling the kettle black," she retorted with a smile, accepting his sleeveless shirt and sitting up. "If it isn't the pot itself!"

He didn't look amused, but he seemed more relaxed now that she was awake and her attention was on him. She rolled up the fabric of his shirt and winced a few times as she pulled it onto her sore body.

"Saa, we have the rest of the day for ourselves," she said lightly, not paying attention to his intent staring. "What do you think we can do now? I suggest we devise that platoon scheme for new Chuunin teams you said the other day, now that we can."

Gaara started to nod, and then remembered the ice cube trick. A tiny but wicked smirk crossed his features, making his wife stop in her tracks. Something was up, she could feel it, and with the start of their intimacy it could only mean one thing...

"Gaara?" she asked when he stood up and made his way towards the door decisively.

"You need to be more refreshed," he said, throwing a glance at Sakura, who stilled on the bed. "I will bring you some ice...and then you can show me that thing you said."

Forget the sunburn, Sakura concluded inwardly with a secretive smile as she watched her husband shedding his clothes with that little glint in his jade eyes that showed his desire for her.

"I think you're absolutely right," she whispered as his hands removed the shirt from her body as carefully as he could. "I feel way too hot. I hope you can help me cool down a little..."

From the way he growled before reaching out for the ice cube bowl, Sakura knew that this was going to be fun.

-

_- Tenna' ento lye omenta -_

-XxX-

**A/N:** Ahahahaha. I'm in a need of a life. No actually, I need for my muse to stop making me write this kind of nonsense. XD

This will be the last of the Walking Together spin-offs. I hope you enjoyed, for I'm mostly done with the GaaSaku streak. Until I come up with something else, but it won't be this kind of plot.

Regarding a detail I forgot to explain in Walking Together's author notes: Karin's kid wasn't Sasuke's. Go read that again and guess who the father of that baby is, and guess how Sasuke reacted when the kid was born. Sorry, I had to amuse myself while I was writing about Team Hebi/Hawk, because the only one I like from them is Juugo. XD

Many thanks to my dearest MelissaRose85 for her awesome betaing skills, and to you guys for reading. 8D


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